Poll: Florida voters prefer St. Augustine

Chances are if you’re registered to vote in Florida, you like St. Augustine.

At least that’s what one poll shows.

Public Policy Polling randomly sampled 642 registered voters in Florida in an automated telephone survey that asked whether they thought favorably of 10 major cities in the state — St. Augustine included.

What the poll found is that St. Augustine was “most by popular by far.”

“Wow, St. Augustine should run for political office,” said Jay Humphreys, communications director of the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches Visitors & Convention Bureau.

When asked the question “Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the city of St. Augustine?,” 76 percent of those polled said “favorable.” Only 5 percent said “unfavorable.” The rest were “unsure.”

The next city was Orlando, with 64 percent favorable, followed by Tampa, Key West, St. Petersburg, Gainesville, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and, last, Miami, with 36 percent voting “favorable.”

Because voters were randomly sampled, the results can be generalized to the whole population, said Dustin Ingalls, assistant to the director at Public Policy Polling.

That means all of the registered voters in Florida would probably vote similarly.

People of different demographics tended to vote similarly in favor of St. Augustine — women and men, Democrats and Republicans, and different age groups.

The poll did not ask whether the voters had actually been to St. Augustine.

Humphreys said he was not totally surprised by the results.

He has seen the “likes” on St. Augustine’s Facebook fan page rise to more than 62,000. He said 99.9 percent of the comments are positive, something “that’s remarkable” in the tourism business.

He said one thing that sets St. Augustine apart is its broad appeal — students, families and young couples come to the city to get a unique experience in an authentic old Spanish town.

“Things aren’t made of plastic and manufactured,” Humphreys said. “Everything here is real.”